1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein relate to a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers for producing sales receipts or the like are widely used in cash registers used in stores, ATMs (automatic teller machines) or CDs (cash dispensers) installed in banks, etc. Such printers for producing sales receipts or the like have a roll of thermal paper used as a recording sheet. A thermal head or the like prints on the recording sheet while the recording sheet is advanced. After the sheet is advanced a predetermined length, a predetermined length of the recording sheet is cut from the rest of the sheet.
A printer of such a type has a printer main body and a lid part connected to the printer main body. One of a thermal head and a platen roller may be attached to the printer main body. The other one of the thermal head and the platen roller may be attached to the lid part. In order to set up a sheet in the printer having this configuration, a recording sheet is inserted through a space that is created between the printer main body and the lid part by opening the lid part.
Such a printer will be described in detail by referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B. A printer illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B includes a printer main body 910 and a head unit 920 that serves as a lid part. The printer main body 910 and the head unit 920 are connected together through two arms 930 that are situated near the two opposite side faces of the printer main body 910 and the two opposite side faces of the head unit 920. In this printer, a platen roller 911 is mounted in the printer main body 910. A thermal head (not shown) is mounted in the head unit 920.
FIG. 1A illustrates a state in which the thermal head can print on a recording sheet, i.e., a state in which the printer main body 910 and the head unit 920 are in direct contact with each other to form one integrated machine. In order to set up a recording sheet in the printer, the head unit 920 is lifted up from the printer main body 910 so that the printer main body 910 and the head unit 920 are separated from each other as illustrated in FIG. 1B. When the printer main body 910 and the head unit 920 are separated from each other, a space 940 is created between the printer main body 910 and the head unit 920. A recording sheet is passed through the space 940 created as described above, thereby being set up in the printer.
In the printer having the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1, a recording sheet is set up upon being passed through the space 940 that is created between the printer main body 910 and the head unit 920 by lifting up the head unit 920 from the printer main body 910. Because of this, the head unit 920 and so on interfere with the task of passing the recording sheet, which results in the need for time and labor for setting up the recording sheet in the printer. The head unit 920 may be lifted higher up from the printer main body 910 to increase the space 940, thereby reducing the time required for the task. However, such an arrangement requires the arms 930 of large size, which are not suitable for size reduction, and also give rise to a problem of insufficient strength.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a printer that is of small size and configured to allow easy setup of a recording sheet.